One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
This is up there on my favorite movies that we've watched so far this year list. I love Jack Nicholoson and he really did a great job in this film. The psychiatrist was a great character as well, and I think he did a good job in his role considering that he'd never acted before. My favorite character was the Billy Bibbit. He was easy to like and the performance the actor gave was extremely convincing. Another character that I'm sure everyone loved was Chief. Hearing that he was actually practically a genius was hard to believe after only knowing him as the "deaf dumb indian". I guess though, that it wasn't so hard to believe after you found out that he wasn't so dumb and wasn't really crazy at all. The acting in this movie was overall, very well done and the characters, well developed. I had seen this movie when I was younger, but was unable to appreciate it as I was now.
Do The Right Thing
This movie made me so mad. I hated every character in it except Sal. I'll admit that I am more upset about the destruction of Sal's famous pizzeria than about Radio Raheem's death. Mostly because Radio Raheem just made me so mad all the time. Common courtesy is not a hard thing to have, I don't care where you live or where you come from or where you were born or anything. You don't go into a public place with your radio turned up to ridiculous levels. If someone asks you to turn it off when you're on their property, you turn it off. As for there not being any black people on the Wall of Fame, it was an Italian American pizzeria. There shouldn't have to be anyone but Italian American's on the wall, and the decision is up to the owner. He wasn't discriminating against the African American people of the town, he was just showing his pride for his heritage. I did like this movie and I thought the way it was filmed was lovely. The acting was pretty decent and Mookie's baby was supa cute. I also like that this movie caused a big class discussion. I like class discussions. I also like controversial movies. I have no qualms about being controversial.
Chinatown
Although Film Noir isn't my genre of my choice, this film wasn't too bad. I enjoyed how the ending was kind of sad and not at all what you would have expected. The main character didn't win in the end, and I'm glad that happened. I'm glad that the girl died, even though I did like her and felt bad for her after I learned of her daughter/sister baby drama. It annoyed me a little bit that the daughter, Katherine, was so pretty and perfect. If you have a child with your father, the kid isn't completely fine, there would be some problems there. I also liked how Jake Gittes didn't just rely on people telling him the truth, since he knew that they would lie, he actually went out of his way to investigate everything himself. There were no loose ends to this film, which made me happy. Though a bit confusing at first, as you review the film you realize that everything that happened was for a reason and every scene had a purpose. Jack Nicholson was great in this role and protrayed his character very nicely. I would like to watch this film again, just to make sure that I got all the pieces right and in place because this was indeed a great film and one of my favorites that we've watched thus far.
The Maltese Falcon
This film was probably my least favorite that we've watched so far. Film Noir just isn't really my scene. The characters all annoyed me, especially the woman Brigid O'Shaughnessy. I hate people who lie a lot, and she just kept on doin' it. It was painful to watch her not tell the truth when the detective obviously knew that she was lying. I was so frustrated with her entire existence. It also annoyed me that Sam Spade was just a perfect character. He never seemed to do anything wrong, and even if he did, he got away with it. I was disappointed to see that the Falcon was a fake one. It was a lame twist. Overall, I didn't like this film much. Maybe I'm just biased against black and white films.
The Graduate
I wasn't too excited to see this movie, as the past two have been a disappointment for me. When it began though, and Simon and Garfunkel was heard, I changed my opinion. I love Simon and Garfunkel and was brought up on their music, so this movie having an entire soundtrack with them was something that appealed to me. I thought that the characters were excruciatingly annoying, namely Mrs. Robinson and most of the time I just wanted her to shut up. She really made me angry and I hated her character. Ben Smith was annoying at times too, but he seemed to be genuine. The way the movie was shot, especially the scenes where it went from the hotel to the parents room and back and forth between different locations very seemlessly. The symbolism used in the water was lovely as well. The ending when his car runs out of gas and he is forced to run the rest of the way to stop the marriage is ridiculously cliche, but when he does stop the wedding it's not like every other movie where the bride just runs down the aisle and they leave, there's actually a fight and people yelling, which seems to be more realistic to me. Also something that I enjoyed was that instead of being over joyed and extremely happy with their decision, at the end of the movie they both seem to realize that ever though they are together, there are still problems and they don't know what they're going to do now.
On The Waterfront
The beginning shot of the film held much promise, with its underlying message of how everyone is so small in comparison the entire world. As it dragged along though, I began to feel my distaste for the film growing. The acting seemed fake and overdone for the most part, especially the character of Edie. She seemed to be yelling all the time and was very overdramatic. Though Marlon Brando is a great actor and very will known and all that jazz, his great performance just couldn't justify the lack of greatness the rest of the movie held. The way it was shot (with the exception of the first scene) wasn't that great. The movie didn't hold my attention at all, possibly for the fact of being in black and white, but I doubt it, as Young Frankenstein was one of my favorite movies. Overall, the movies we've watched thus far have been a disappointment for me.
Casablanca
This film is considered a classic by most. For me, it wasn't anything special. It was ok, but not great. It's not a movie that I will go out of my way to watch again. At first I thought it was due to the fact that it is in black and white, but I quickly realized that I like the film Psycho very much, and that is also in black and white. The acting wasn't bad either, thus I stuck to blaming my distaste for the film on that I found the plot and storyline rather boring. Though, I can see why many put it in the category of classic, for me it was just a movie I was forced to watch in school but won't watch again.
The Shawshank Redemption
I enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption. The flashback work in the beginning was really great and I thought the character development was excellent as well. The actros were superb (duh, Morgan Freeman.). The beginning and middle of the movie were fantastic, so I thought. Intriguing, dramatic, and intense. They really made you want to watch more and find out what happened to everyone. The end though, I could have done without. The hugging and loving and happiness just really took away from the movie I thought. The end was completely cliche and I think they could have come up wiht something a little better. If this film had steered clear of the "happily ever after on an island with a boat" ending that I tend to hate, I would have appreciated it much more. As far as classics go, will Shawshank ever be considered one? I don't think so. Although voted top two of people's favourite movies on IMDB.com every year, I don't feel as if this movie constitutes as a classic.
This is up there on my favorite movies that we've watched so far this year list. I love Jack Nicholoson and he really did a great job in this film. The psychiatrist was a great character as well, and I think he did a good job in his role considering that he'd never acted before. My favorite character was the Billy Bibbit. He was easy to like and the performance the actor gave was extremely convincing. Another character that I'm sure everyone loved was Chief. Hearing that he was actually practically a genius was hard to believe after only knowing him as the "deaf dumb indian". I guess though, that it wasn't so hard to believe after you found out that he wasn't so dumb and wasn't really crazy at all. The acting in this movie was overall, very well done and the characters, well developed. I had seen this movie when I was younger, but was unable to appreciate it as I was now.
Do The Right Thing
This movie made me so mad. I hated every character in it except Sal. I'll admit that I am more upset about the destruction of Sal's famous pizzeria than about Radio Raheem's death. Mostly because Radio Raheem just made me so mad all the time. Common courtesy is not a hard thing to have, I don't care where you live or where you come from or where you were born or anything. You don't go into a public place with your radio turned up to ridiculous levels. If someone asks you to turn it off when you're on their property, you turn it off. As for there not being any black people on the Wall of Fame, it was an Italian American pizzeria. There shouldn't have to be anyone but Italian American's on the wall, and the decision is up to the owner. He wasn't discriminating against the African American people of the town, he was just showing his pride for his heritage. I did like this movie and I thought the way it was filmed was lovely. The acting was pretty decent and Mookie's baby was supa cute. I also like that this movie caused a big class discussion. I like class discussions. I also like controversial movies. I have no qualms about being controversial.
Chinatown
Although Film Noir isn't my genre of my choice, this film wasn't too bad. I enjoyed how the ending was kind of sad and not at all what you would have expected. The main character didn't win in the end, and I'm glad that happened. I'm glad that the girl died, even though I did like her and felt bad for her after I learned of her daughter/sister baby drama. It annoyed me a little bit that the daughter, Katherine, was so pretty and perfect. If you have a child with your father, the kid isn't completely fine, there would be some problems there. I also liked how Jake Gittes didn't just rely on people telling him the truth, since he knew that they would lie, he actually went out of his way to investigate everything himself. There were no loose ends to this film, which made me happy. Though a bit confusing at first, as you review the film you realize that everything that happened was for a reason and every scene had a purpose. Jack Nicholson was great in this role and protrayed his character very nicely. I would like to watch this film again, just to make sure that I got all the pieces right and in place because this was indeed a great film and one of my favorites that we've watched thus far.
The Maltese Falcon
This film was probably my least favorite that we've watched so far. Film Noir just isn't really my scene. The characters all annoyed me, especially the woman Brigid O'Shaughnessy. I hate people who lie a lot, and she just kept on doin' it. It was painful to watch her not tell the truth when the detective obviously knew that she was lying. I was so frustrated with her entire existence. It also annoyed me that Sam Spade was just a perfect character. He never seemed to do anything wrong, and even if he did, he got away with it. I was disappointed to see that the Falcon was a fake one. It was a lame twist. Overall, I didn't like this film much. Maybe I'm just biased against black and white films.
The Graduate
I wasn't too excited to see this movie, as the past two have been a disappointment for me. When it began though, and Simon and Garfunkel was heard, I changed my opinion. I love Simon and Garfunkel and was brought up on their music, so this movie having an entire soundtrack with them was something that appealed to me. I thought that the characters were excruciatingly annoying, namely Mrs. Robinson and most of the time I just wanted her to shut up. She really made me angry and I hated her character. Ben Smith was annoying at times too, but he seemed to be genuine. The way the movie was shot, especially the scenes where it went from the hotel to the parents room and back and forth between different locations very seemlessly. The symbolism used in the water was lovely as well. The ending when his car runs out of gas and he is forced to run the rest of the way to stop the marriage is ridiculously cliche, but when he does stop the wedding it's not like every other movie where the bride just runs down the aisle and they leave, there's actually a fight and people yelling, which seems to be more realistic to me. Also something that I enjoyed was that instead of being over joyed and extremely happy with their decision, at the end of the movie they both seem to realize that ever though they are together, there are still problems and they don't know what they're going to do now.
On The Waterfront
The beginning shot of the film held much promise, with its underlying message of how everyone is so small in comparison the entire world. As it dragged along though, I began to feel my distaste for the film growing. The acting seemed fake and overdone for the most part, especially the character of Edie. She seemed to be yelling all the time and was very overdramatic. Though Marlon Brando is a great actor and very will known and all that jazz, his great performance just couldn't justify the lack of greatness the rest of the movie held. The way it was shot (with the exception of the first scene) wasn't that great. The movie didn't hold my attention at all, possibly for the fact of being in black and white, but I doubt it, as Young Frankenstein was one of my favorite movies. Overall, the movies we've watched thus far have been a disappointment for me.
Casablanca
This film is considered a classic by most. For me, it wasn't anything special. It was ok, but not great. It's not a movie that I will go out of my way to watch again. At first I thought it was due to the fact that it is in black and white, but I quickly realized that I like the film Psycho very much, and that is also in black and white. The acting wasn't bad either, thus I stuck to blaming my distaste for the film on that I found the plot and storyline rather boring. Though, I can see why many put it in the category of classic, for me it was just a movie I was forced to watch in school but won't watch again.
The Shawshank Redemption
I enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption. The flashback work in the beginning was really great and I thought the character development was excellent as well. The actros were superb (duh, Morgan Freeman.). The beginning and middle of the movie were fantastic, so I thought. Intriguing, dramatic, and intense. They really made you want to watch more and find out what happened to everyone. The end though, I could have done without. The hugging and loving and happiness just really took away from the movie I thought. The end was completely cliche and I think they could have come up wiht something a little better. If this film had steered clear of the "happily ever after on an island with a boat" ending that I tend to hate, I would have appreciated it much more. As far as classics go, will Shawshank ever be considered one? I don't think so. Although voted top two of people's favourite movies on IMDB.com every year, I don't feel as if this movie constitutes as a classic.